In a communications network various elements within the network are managed by a respective element management system (EMS). For example, digital cross-connect systems (DCS) are typically managed by a DCS element management system (EMS) while Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) add-drop multiplexers (ADMs) are managed by a SONET EMS. The DCS-EMS and SONET-EMS and other element management systems are in turn managed by a network management system (NMS). Each domain within a communications network comprising a plurality of domains is managed by a respective network management system (NMS). Intra-domain load balancing, i.e., load balancing within a network and inter-domain load balancing, i.e., balancing between networks, may be effected by EMS-load balancing methods.
Broadly speaking, load balancing within the context of a communications network comprises the “distribution” of data or voice traffic such that no one communication link is over utilized, resulting in a dropped call or broken data link.
Present load balancing methods do not efficiently address load balancing needs within a SONET ring environment. Unfortunately, some paths between nodes in a SONET ring may be over utilized while other paths between nodes are under utilized when an element management system selects the short path between an origination node and destination node without regards to the capacity needs of the ring as a whole.